Earth Changes

UK floods: Bus carrying 14 passengers swept onto seafront and left stranded at Newgale

Metro
Sun, 02 Feb 2014 10:05 UTC

A bus has been left marooned on a seafront following a giant wave that shrouded the vehicle with water and forced the rescue of 14 people on board.

The bus was hit by a massive wall of water as it travelled along the coast near Newgale in west Wales at roughly 7pm last night.

Milford Haven Coastguard received a call advising them the vehicle was stuck and surrounded by water, following high tides and wind speeds of up to 50mph.

Emergency teams including fire, police and ambulance crews also attended the scene and there have been no reported injuries.

Steve Matthews from Swansea Coastguard said: 'There are tricky conditions on the sea and along the coast, with gale force winds, high tides and heavy rain.

'Our advice is simple, please don't take risks. But if you do get into difficulty, or spot someone who might be in trouble, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.'

Severe snowstorms in the province of Vojvodina, Serbia

International Radio Serbia
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 07:14 UTC

Severe weather has continued in Vojvodina on Saturday. Roads in the vicinity of Subotica have been snowed in, and members of the Serbian Army and Gendarmerie have been engaged to evacuate citizens cut off by snowdrifts.

Drama that commenced on Friday with evacuation of frostbitten people snowed in in the north of Vojvodina has continued through the night into Saturday.

The rescue operation went on through the night during which the Serbian Army, gendarmerie, Emergency Situation Sector, and the Department of Roads of Serbia struggled to evacuate 200 people from stranded vehicles, while strong wind trapped two international trains on the railway line between Zmajevo and Vrbas.

Meanwhile, some 1,000 people have been blocked in their vehicles forming a line near Feketic. Additional problems have arisen due to freezing rain.

Some 100 passengers from the two international trains have been evacuated in the morning and placed in a shelter in Vrbas, the Serbian Railways communicated to the Tanjug news agency.

The border crossing Horgos has been closed for freight transportation due to the stormy winds and snow drifts over 3.5 meters tall, and authorities appeal to citizens not to travel without a pressing need.

The Serbian government provided telephone lines [(011)2282910, or (011)2289208] for snow emergency calls.

Gruesome epidemic is ravaging starfish populations in the Pacific

Robert Gonzalez
io9
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:30 UTC

A mysterious illness has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of starfish on North America's west coast, and its symptoms are horrifying. Dubbed "sea star wasting syndrome," the arms of an infected individual will twist into knots, develop lesions, and finally crawl away in opposite directions until they tear away from its body, allowing its insides to spill out.

Researchers still aren't sure how the disease spreads, let alone where it comes from. What they do know is that sea stars occupy a pivotal niche in ocean ecosystems, and large-scale die outs are almost certainly a very bad sign. In a fascinating piece that's as sad as it is disturbing, PBS special correspondent Katie Campbell reports on how researchers and citizen scientists are teaming up to investigate the spread of the mysterious syndrome:

Kavachi undersea volcano (Solomon Islands) erupts

Volcano Discovery
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 10:02 UTC

A submarine eruption is likely occurring at the submerged volcano. A NASA satellite image from 29 Jan shows a plume of discolored sea water swirling and drifting from the location of the volcano. The discoloration is likely from suspended volcanic sediments (the fragmented lava) and gasses.

Kavachi is an undersea volcano on the southern edge of the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It erupted dozens of times in the 20th century, often breaking the water surface, only to be eroded back below the water line within a few months.

Man swept to death by freak wave

9News MSN
Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC

A man swept to his death in Spain saw the wave that killed him for only a split-second before he was washed away, chilling video of his final moments reveals.

An unnamed 43-year-old Senegalese man was walking on the pier in the port of Ondarroa when he was caught out by a freak wave in stormy weather just before 11am local time on Tuesday, El Pais reports.

The man appears to be unaware of his danger as a wall of whitewater explodes over the top of the concrete pier, the video shows.

He then turns to run as tonnes of water come crashing down but it is too late.

U.S. cattle herd at lowest number since 1951

Betsy Blaney
Business Week
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:54 UTC

The lingering effects of drought across the Great Plains in recent years have led to another decrease in the U.S. cattle herd.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that the U.S. inventory of cattle and calves totaled 87.7 million animals as of Jan. 1. That was down by about 1.6 million cattle, or 2 percent, compared with this time last year.

The agency says this is the lowest January inventory since 1951.

Another case of outgassing? Mysterious smell reported in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee

Austin Ramsey
Murray Ledger & Times
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:43 UTC

Authorities in multiple counties in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee reported a mysterious gas-like odor Thursday morning, but the source of the stench is still unknown. Calloway County dispatcher Dan Galloway said the Sheriff's Office received anywhere between 15 to 20 calls of a natural gas smell.

The first call came from the Almo area at about 6:30 a.m. Galloway said Calloway County Fire-Rescue units responded to a residential area to find nothing. Minutes later, firefighters were called to the Dexter area for the same call. By later in the morning, Galloway said reports were coming in from most of the county as well as Marshall, Graves and Ballard counties in Kentucky and Henry and Stewart counties in Tennessee.

"We've talked to sheriffs' offices south of us and they have all reported the smell."

Calloway County Emergency Management Director Bill Call said officials have tested the air in multiple areas county wide to find no unusually high concentrations of natural gas or propane.

January was England's wettest winter month in almost 250 years

Damian Carrington
The Observer
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:17 UTC

Last month's seasonal total was higher than any since 1767 and three times the average level

The deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years, according to figures from the world's longest-running weather station.

The rainfall measured at the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount.

The latest Met Office data shows that the region from Devon to Kent and up into the Midlands suffered its wettest January since its records began in 1910.

But Ian Ashpole, the Radcliffe Meteorological Observer, said: "The Radcliffe measurements more than double the length of the Met Office record and give us a better grip on how things are changing."

Volcano kills 14 on Mount Sinabung, Indonesia

New York Post
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:55 UTC

An Indonesian volcano that has been rumbling for months unleashed a major eruption Saturday, killing 14 people just a day after authorities allowed thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, saying that activity was decreasing, officials said.

Among the dead on Mount Sinabung were a local television journalist and four high-school students and their teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. At least three other people were injured, and authorities feared the death toll would rise.

Sinabung in western Sumatra has been erupting for four months, sending lava and searing gas and rocks rolling down its southern slopes. Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people, housing them in cramped tents, schools and public buildings. Many have been desperate to return to check on homes and farms, presenting a dilemma for the government.

Rare Atlantic turtle discovered on Devon beach in UK

Antonia Molloy
The Independent, UK
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:53 UTC

The warm water reptile was found dead on the sand

A rare warm water turtle washed up on a beach in Devon this week - but the reptile had already died.

The Kemp's ridley turtle, measuring just 30cm in length, was found on Woolacombe Beach.

Experts said it is not the first Kemp's ridley to be cast ashore along the UK coastline this winter.

The species was on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, as a result of hunting and egg collection in the nesting beaches in Mexico and accidental capture and drowning in trawling nets in the Gulf.

But the species is now recovering after special measures were put in place to safeguard their numbers.

Dr Peter Richardson, biodiversity programme manager for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), said the turtles would not survive in British waters.

New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good...

parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

Welcome to the new normal. The more sensory exposure we have about such things, the less it is an issue.

sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Earth Changes

UK floods: Bus carrying 14 passengers swept onto seafront and left stranded at Newgale

Severe snowstorms in the province of Vojvodina, Serbia

Gruesome epidemic is ravaging starfish populations in the Pacific

Kavachi undersea volcano (Solomon Islands) erupts

Man swept to death by freak wave

U.S. cattle herd at lowest number since 1951

Another case of outgassing? Mysterious smell reported in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee

January was England's wettest winter month in almost 250 years

Volcano kills 14 on Mount Sinabung, Indonesia

Rare Atlantic turtle discovered on Devon beach in UK

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